July 20, 2008

• Luke 11:37-53

  Warning… My brain is a little foggy today. I am not at the top of my thought process so I apologize if anything or sentences or something are half formed or anything. If something doesn’t make complete sense feel free to ask.
  I wanted to post this today even though I am a little under the weather (not sure what is worng exactly but I am shaky and dizy and jittery).

  Luke 11:37-38 KJV  And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat.  (38)  And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner.

  There is a whole ceremony to having a guest. Jesus didn’t do the ceremonial washing.
  

  It was the Jewish custom to dip the hands in water before eating and often
  between courses for ceremonial purification. 
  They would wash their hands by immersing them up to the elbow before
  eating.  When they had been to the
  market, or among any large number of people, or had reason to think they had,
  or feared they had touched any unclean person or thing, they immersed
  themselves all over in water.

  The law required that you wash your hands in a certain way.  Large stone vessels of water were kept for
  this purpose as ordinary water may be unclean. 
  You must use at least a quarter of a log of water.  The water is first poured over the hands
  beginning at the finger tips and running down to the wrists.  The palm of each hand was to be cleansed by
  rubbing the fist of the other hand into it. 
  Again water is poured over beginning at the wrists and running down over
  the fingertips.

  Luke 11:39-44 KJV  And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.  (40)  Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also?  (41)  But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.  (42)  But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.  (43)  Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets.  (44)  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.

  Verse 39… Cleaning the outside of the cup = Religion. Looking on the outside. Doing the right things. That is religion, but their insides are wicked.
  God sees the motivations.

  Hebrews 4:1-16 KJV  Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.  (2)  For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.  (3)  For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.  (4)  For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.  (5)  And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.  (6)  Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:  (7)  Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.  (8)  For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.  (9)  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.  (10)  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.  (11)  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.  (12)  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  (13)  Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.  (14)  Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.  (15)  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.  (16)  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

  Religion is external show. Following God inward change of heart.

  Verse 40… Fools. God made the inside too not just the outside.
  
  Verse 41… Give God your heart, not just religious show. Clean the inside and the outside will come too.
  
  Verse 42… Rue = a plant.
  God is holy. God judges sin. He is also loving, merciful, and kind.

  All have sinned. No righteous. God sends His son to bear our sin. To pay for our sins. Through Jesus God can be judge and justifier. Jesus is the key. They were majoring in the minors.

  Verse 43… They want to be the most important. They want reputation. All about reputation but have no character.

  Verse 44… They would rather be recognized then be really spiritual with God.

  Unmarked grave….
  Numbers 19:16 KJV  And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

  Appear to be righteous but they really defile those who come to them.
  
  Luke 11:45-46 KJV  Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also.  (46)  And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers.

  Lawyers – expositors of laws and traditions.
  Traditions – man made laws that they put around the word of God.

  In time traditions became more important then the word of God. They had a double standard for the people and didn’t keep them themselves. They chase people away from God.

  When a person is loaded down with guilt and condemnation, we don’t need to be harping on them about quitting smoking, wearing a suit and tie to church, start tithing, and to stop cussing.  What people need most is for Jesus to touch their heart.  Jesus will take care of the outer stuff.

  Luke 11:47-48 KJV  Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.  (48)  Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.

  The prophets told of the hypocrisy. They killed them. Example would be Jeremiah. They worship the dead that spoke the truth and persecute the living (John the baptist and Jesus) that tell the same truth.

  Hypocrites fear exposure.

  Luke 11:49-51 KJV  Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:  (50)  That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;  (51)  From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

  Abel
  Genesis 4:1-4 KJV  And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.  (2)  And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.  (3)  And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.  (4)  And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

  Cain brought his work.
  Abel brought blood sacrifice.

  He was showing blood attonement. Pointing to the future attonement through Jesus.

  Works can not satisfy.

  There are two paths.
  One is blood atonement.
  The other is works.

  You are not saved by works. You can only be saved by the blood attonement of Jesus Christ.
  
  Genesis 4:5-8 KJV  But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.  (6)  And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?  (7)  If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.  (8)  And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

  Zacharias
  Joash was only a little boy when he became king over Judah, but he had the help of Jehoida the priest, who raised him and taught him the ways of the Lord.  As long as Jehoiada was alive, Joash was a good king.  But the day came when Jehoiada died, and Joash began to do wicked things.  Zecharias (or, Zechariah), was the son of Jehoiada

  2 Chronicles 24:1-27 KJV  (1)  Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Zibiah of Beersheba.  (2)  And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.  (3)  And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and daughters.  (4)  And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to repair the house of the LORD.  (5)  And he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out unto the cities of Judah, and gather of all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that ye hasten the matter. Howbeit the Levites hastened it not.  (6)  And the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said unto him, Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the collection, according to the commandment of Moses the servant of the LORD, and of the congregation of Israel, for the tabernacle of witness?  (7)  For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and also all the dedicated things of the house of the LORD did they bestow upon Baalim.  (8)  And at the king’s commandment they made a chest, and set it without at the gate of the house of the LORD.  (9)  And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in to the LORD the collection that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness.  (10)  And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end.  (11)  Now it came to pass, that at what time the chest was brought unto the king’s office by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king’s scribe and the high priest’s officer came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to his place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance.  (12)  And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of the LORD, and hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the LORD, and also such as wrought iron and brass to mend the house of the LORD.  (13)  So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in his state, and strengthened it.  (14)  And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, whereof were made vessels for the house of the LORD, even vessels to minister, and to offer withal, and spoons, and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the LORD continually all the days of Jehoiada.  (15)  But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died.  (16)  And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God, and toward his house.  (17)  Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them.  (18)  And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.  (19)  Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the LORD; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear.  (20)  And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you.  (21)  And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD.  (22)  Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The LORD look upon it, and require it.  (23)  And it came to pass at the end of the year, that the host of Syria came up against him: and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil of them unto the king of Damascus.  (24)  For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, and the LORD delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash.  (25)  And when they were departed from him, (for they left him in great diseases,) his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings.  (26)  And these are they that conspired against him; Zabad the son of Shimeath an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess.  (27)  Now concerning his sons, and the greatness of the burdens laid upon him, and the repairing of the house of God, behold, they are written in the story of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.

  Zacharias was not the last of the prophets to be killed, but the last recorded prophet to be killed.  The order of the Hebrew Old Testament is different than the order in our Bible, with the book of 2Chronicles being the last book.  Abel was the first, Jesus is using Zacharias as the “last”.

  Luke 11:52 KJV  Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.

  What is the key?
  Luke 24:26-27 KJV  Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?  (27)  And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

  Jesus is the key!
  Luke 24:44-48 KJV  And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.  (45)  Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,  (46)  And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:  (47)  And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  (48)  And ye are witnesses of these things.

  JESUS is the key!!!

  Jews were excomunicated for following Jesus. Let us pray that this sin will never be ours. That we will NEVER hinder one coming to Jesus. Let us encourage and not hinder.

  Luke 11:53-54 KJV  And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things:  (54)  Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.

  They didn’t let Him finish. They were mad. They unloaded on Him verbally. They looked for things to accuse Him.

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